Urban Space and Political Conflict in Late Medieval Flanders (original) (raw)
Related papers
Urbanisation and its consequences: spatial developments in late medieval Flanders
2014
An inquiry into the attitudes towards distance and space in the late medieval world is by no means an easy task, an inquiry into the consequences of urbanization for this attitude is next to impossible. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that urbanization, which involved or was directly related to a greater impact of secondary and tertiary activities in society, caused important shifts in the mentality of town-dwellers as well as of countryfolk and in this way it influenced the attitudes towards space and distance in particular. It also changed the realities of movement and therefore the perception of space). But one must beware of too broad a generalization. There was no single urban way of looking at space or of perceiving distance. This not only largely depended upon the urban background of townsmen. It was as much determined by their economic activities, by their social back ground, by their intellectual or professional training, by their political awareness or by the personal skil...
Imagining Flanders : the (de)construction of a regional identity in fifteenth-century Flanders
Mario Damen & Kim Overlaet (eds.), Constructing and representing territory in late medieval and early modern Europe, 2022
This chapter examines the construction of collective historical identities in late medieval Flemish towns in the early fifteenth century. The Burgundian dukes and the Flemish elites tried to shape and ‘control’ representations of their principality, but in literary, pictorial, and historiographical sources the focus on the Flemish count gradually gave way to a focus on the largest Flemish cities. Analysing the Imago Flandriae, a Latin prophecy on the Hundred Years’ War, and the Flandria Generosa C, a Latin chronicle of Flanders, I argue that these literary sources illustrate the new influence of major Flemish towns in new regional institutions, such as the Four Members of Flanders, and on regional politics under Burgundian rule.
Urban Territories in Late Medieval Brussels. Imagined Frontiers and Responsible Institutions
Lud'a kLUSAKOVA & Laure Teulières (eds.), Frontiers and Identities. Cities in Regions and Nations, Pisa, 2008, pp. 75-86.
This chapter 1 focuses on the spatial analysis of intra-urban territories which existed in late medieval and early modern Brussels (Belgium). By studying their morphological characteristics and origins, I seek to understand their functions within urban society. These intra-urban territories did not have clear or stable frontiers, unless they were demarcated by town walls. The territories were defined by a chain of loose spatial elements. The town council used them to organise urban defence and to apply fiscal and commercial rules. Therefore, they were created ex nihilo, revealing the divide et impera policy of the town council.
The medieval county of Flanders experienced an extraordinary number of rebellions and revolts, opposing the count, the patricians and the urban middle classes, in various combinations. If the fluctuating balance of power inclined too sharply to one group, or if specific demands of privileged citizens were not fulfilled because they lacked access to power, political challengers rebelled. Representative organs could solve socio-political and economic problems, but a rebellion usually ended in a struggle between social groups and networks within the towns and a war between rebel regimes and prince. These two struggles continuously intermingled and created a rebellious dynamic, ending in victory or defeat and in repression and, in turn, inspiring the next rebellion. This remarkable pattern of rebellion started in the phase of 'communal emancipation', in the twelfth century, a period in which the counts granted privileges to the Flemish towns, as social and political contradictions developed within the city. From the 1280s until the end of the fourteenth century, craft guilds constructed alliances with other challengers, such as noblemen, and fought for political representation and control over fiscal and economic policies. As state power became more and more important after the arrival of the centralising Burgundian dynasty in Flanders, this pattern changed significantly. The urban elites gradually sided with the dukes and urban rebellions became less successful. This did not mean, however, that the Flemish rebellious tradition was exhausted. The end of the fifteenth century and the sixteenth century would witness new challenges to princely power. In this article we will consider the role of alliances and leadership, ideology, mobilisation and rebellious 'repertoires' in medieval Flemish towns.
Factional conflict in late medieval Flanders
Twentieth-century scholarship gave birth to two distinct and antagonistic traditions regarding the feuds that frequently occurred in the urbanized society of late medieval Flanders: that factionalism was rooted in the clashes within urban elites; or that it rose from the tensions that existed between different socio-economic layers of society. This article develops a perspective that integrates those older traditions through a synthetic discussion of the discourse on factionalism in late medieval sources and a reassessment of the distribution of wealth, power and honour in late medieval Flanders. It also connects the debate on urban factionalism to recent scholarship on the genesis of the 'princely state' in the medieval Low Countries. The growing political influence of the Burgundian dynasty in urban factional conflict in Flanders is unmistakable, but the growth of state power probably did not lead directly to a decrease in 'private violence'.
2.5. The medieval territory of Brussels: A dynamic landscape of urbanisation
Amsterdam University Press eBooks, 2012
The urbanisation process has a huge impact on both the urban and rural landscape. Not only does it thoroughly modify the urban area, it also has a tremendous impact on the rural hinterland. We propose to take medieval Brussels (Duchy of Brabant) as an example to illustrate this complex issue. According to our different fields of research, a multidisciplinary point of view will be adopted, combining urban history (the study of human urban society), rural history (agricultural developments and rural socioeconomic change), historical geography (interaction between medieval people and their spatial environment) and natural sciences (through the archaeopedological and phytolith study of Dark Earth). Firstly, we briefly discuss the essential concepts 'medieval city' and 'medieval urban landscape' and try to apply them to the case of medieval Brussels. Secondly, we address some essential characteristics of landscape transformation, by tackling the major stages of the emergence and development of medieval Brussels and its changing impact on the regional landscape. We argue that the urbanisation process, generally allocated solely to the urban area, is key to understanding landscape transformation of the medieval territory of Brussels.
Historical Research 85, 2012
Twentieth-century scholarship gave birth to two distinct and antagonistic traditions regarding the feuds that frequently occurred in the urbanized society of late medieval Flanders: that factionalism was rooted in the clashes within urban elites; or that it rose from the tensions that existed between different socio-economic layers of society. This article develops a perspective that integrates those older traditions through a synthetic discussion of the discourse on factionalism in late medieval sources and a reassessment of the distribution of wealth, power and honour in late medieval Flanders. It also connects the debate on urban factionalism to recent scholarship on the genesis of the 'princely state' in the medieval Low Countries. The growing political influence of the Burgundian dynasty in urban factional conflict in Flanders is unmistakable, but the growth of state power probably did not lead directly to a decrease in 'private violence'.